


Breaking Up is not on my Itinerary

by Purple_ducky00



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Emotionally stunted Tony Stark, Howard Stark Lives, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Jan van dyne is too perfect for this world, M/M, Maria Stark Lives, Misunderstandings, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:55:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23052820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purple_ducky00/pseuds/Purple_ducky00
Summary: In which you should not jump to conclusions when eavesdroppingWinteriron month 2020SFW Saturday: Dialogue/sentence
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 160
Collections: WinterIron Month 2020





	Breaking Up is not on my Itinerary

**Author's Note:**

> SFW Saturday: Dialogue/sentence 
> 
> FYI: Tony is about 23 in this fic, and Bucky is about 26 (just want to clear up because it DOES say "young genius")

“…I wanna break up with Tony,” Tony stops short when he hears Bucky in the next room. 

“Why don’t you talk to him then?” Steve asks.

Bucky groans. “I will! Ugh, he’s just so infuriating! Why is he like that?”

Tony bites the palm of his hand to keep from making a noise and runs back to his room and locks the door. He pulls out the bottle of tequila Clint gave him on his birthday and just drinks. If Bucky wants to break up with him, fine. Whatever. He doesn’t care. He won’t even remember shortly. By the time he passes out, he has rolled under the bed. That’s where he is, sound asleep, a half-hour later when Bucky comes up to find him. Bucky searches the room and his shop then leaves, unable to locate the young genius.

++++++++++++++++  
Over the next month, Tony avoids Bucky. He spends most of his time in the lab in black-out mode. Howard sends Tony's newly-hired assistant, Virginia “Pepper" Potts, to make sure he’s working on his projects every few days. She tells him she’s worried about him, but he tells her this is normal. He'll be ok.

He supposes after day 3 that he should probably eat something other than these awful smoothies DUME makes for him. He has JARVIS check the cameras – he knows he’s not supposed to, but there’s a thing called avoidance, and he needs to know Bucky isn’t in the kitchen at the time.

Day five comes and Bucky’s knocking on the door of the shop. “Tones? Are you in there? I wanna talk with ya.”

“Do not tell him I’m in here. Do not let him in.” Tony hisses at J. Eventually Bucky gives up and leaves.

During Week 2, the Avengers alarm goes off, and Tony knows he can’t sit out. So he suits up and fights with the rest of them. When the battle was over, however, instead of getting a meal with the rest of the team, he salutes and flies off, not daring to look at Bucky.

Tony is needed at Stark Industries for a project. He finds this surprisingly relieving. Working on this project with the R&D department was cathartic, and Howard didn’t come around until the middle of the second week he was there. 

Being that he’s home for a while, Maria asks him to escort her to a gala or two. Because he loves his mother, Tony obliges. Catching up with Jan van Dyne was something he's should do anyways. 

“So he just wants to break up with you? Aw, I thought you two would last. You both seemed so in love!” She commiserates.

“Well, I was – am, at least. But I guess…” Tony shrugs. “So I’ve been avoiding him. You know, I'm hoping he'll take the hint because I’d rather not have a discussion about how terrible and ‘infuriating’ I am.”

“Oh honey. There's nothing wrong with you. He’s stupid if he thinks that. I’m taking you clubbing tomorrow night. But now, tell me about that AI robot you have the specs for. I wanna see how it works.”

+++++++++++++  
“It's been a month, Steve, and I haven't been able to find my boyfriend!” Bucky rubs his temples. “JARVIS is telling me that he's ok, but why won't he talk to me?” He starts to pace. “I swear, if Howard said or did anything to him, I will…” His rant gets interrupted by his cell phone ringing. 

“Barnes speaking.”

“James Barnes? This is the Shield Hospital. We are calling as you are listed as Tony Stark’s emergency contact. We are holding him here until you or a family member comes to pick him up.” 

Bucky swears under his breath. “What's your address? I'll be there asap.”

Steve is looking at him worriedly when he hangs up. “Tony's in the hospital. If Howard’s why he's in there, he's dead.”

Jan is at the hospital when Bucky gets there. “They won't let me take him home so we had to wait for you,” she chatters. “Bucky,” she holds onto his arm until he looks at her, “don’t hurt him today, ok? He’s hurt enough already.” 

He looks at her confusedly, “Ok…”

“Thanks Bucky. Do you want me to stay?”

“No just go home. You look like you have a pretty nasty hangover. Thanks Jan.” Bucky turns and walks into the room. Tony is lying on the bed with a vibrant black eye and his arm in a cast. “Tony, baby, are you ok? What happened?”

“Fought a guy trying to wear down a woman’s resolve to not sleep with him. I had him down for the count then three of his cronies jumped me.”

“Are you going to press charges? You look like you’re in a lot of pain.” Bucky scans Tony concernedly. 

“I'll be fine just get me out of here,” Tony mutters. On the way home, he speaks up again, “You know, you could've just called my mom. She'd have sent Happy to come get me, and you didn't have to be bothered.” 

“Tones, it's not a bother tho come get you. I was worried about you. I haven't seen you in about a month and I missed you.”

Tony scoffs loudly at this and leans his head against the window the rest of the way home. When Bucky tries tho help him into bed, Tony finally snaps. “Stop. Ok? Just get it over with already. Tell me you want to break up, and we'll be done. I'll change my emergency contact so you don't have to be bothered with me anymore.”

“But I don’t want to break up with you, Tones. I love you.”

Tears rise in Tony’s eye that’s not swollen shut as he scoffs again, “Yeah sure. What about ‘I wanna break up with Tony’? Steve told you to talk to me but you said I was and I quote ‘infuriating’. So just leave me.”

“Tony, you overheard one snippet of a conversation. Howard offered me money to break up with you. Apparently he’s not a huge fan of his son’s sexual preferences. So I met with him the next day and told him to shove his offer where the sun don’t shine or I’d stick my foot there.”

“So I just avoided you for nothing? I’m sorry Bucky. I overreacted, and I…”

“I can’t say I’m not a little bit pissed,” Bucky puts his finger on Tony’s mouth, “but most of it is aimed at Howard because he’s the reason for your low self esteem. I forgive you, and I just ask that you just talk to me. If I want to break up, I’ll tell you, but I can tell you that there’s less than a .000001% chance of that happening. I love you so much, doll.”

“I love you, too, Bucky.” 


End file.
